NIHR invests over £120 million in supporting world-class global health research and announces a new call for research

The NIHR initially launched a funding call in December 2016 to support world-class global health research to be undertaken through newly funded Global Health Research Units and Groups aiming to deliver measurable benefits to patients and the public in low and middle-income countries on the (DAC) list of ODA-eligible countries. See our outcomes page to see the results of this call.

Following the success of this call we are now inviting a second round of applications from existing specialist academic groups who wish to expand into the field of global health.

Awards of up to £2m over three years are available for existing departments within universities and research institutes. These funds will allow academic groups to develop new links with partners in DAC-list countries and support other nations across the world with the UK’s gold standard science and research. The funds will be used to build capacity in partner countries, and run pilot projects, with the aim of building strong partnerships for delivery of world-class global health research in the future. Research in any field of applied global health that is for the primary benefit of patients and the public in one or more DAC list country will be considered.

This initiative aims to underpin UK universities and research institutes in their capacity to deliver major improvements in global health. It is also aimed at encouraging universities and other research institutes who are not currently engaged in research to improve health in lower and middle-income countries, to expand into this field, especially in areas where there are global shortages of skills.

This call is in line with the UK aid strategy, with allocated funding from the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget to the Department of Health to commission internationally outstanding applied global health research.